


A War Within The Stars

by TheNightHunter



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, role play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-04
Updated: 2014-04-04
Packaged: 2018-01-18 03:22:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1413193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNightHunter/pseuds/TheNightHunter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is an rp between me and someone I used to role play with. He was very good at writing as General Kozmotis. This story line takes place when he was a great hero, a legend, and a father. </p><p>The person who wrote as Kozmotis can be found here: http://kpitchiner.tumblr.com/</p><p>If you want to beta this, be my guest...lol</p>
            </blockquote>





	A War Within The Stars

~~~

Planet Information

~~~

Tasogare was a planet in which there was only one time of day and that was Twilight. The season blurred together seamlessly in the lovely colors of sun’s light. Constant shafts of oranges, blues, purples, reds, and yellows sprinkled across the land. The leaves glittered in the wind when it was their time to change colors and fall to the ground below. The planet was normally a peaceful one, out of the way of most of the trade routes. It wasn’t often they even got tourist or even traders to come along.

Most of the time the dwellers were the ones to travel out to the other planets to pick up goods and so forth. It was a content sort of world, cities of towering crystal and beaches of shining sand that breathed colored daydreams into the air. The light always caught everything so perfectly; it was of course a piece of heaven and that was the reason there was really no strife within its social structures.

This however changed with the appearance of fearlings and dream pirates…they were able to train a small army of natives to fight off the attacks that came. But the attacks were getting more and more fierce and they could not fight them off alone anymore. Especially when it came known that a large concentration was making it’s wait toward their planet. They were able to send word to The Golden Army for aid and given that they knew which direction they were coming from. They Golden Army sat up camp within the forest so they would have cover and perhaps the element of surprise as well.

 ~~~

Aurora

~~~

Aurora’s family was more or less typical of the average native; they leaved in the suburbs of one of the towering cities.  Her mother worked for a jewelry store, making some of the finest and rare collections around. Her father worked within the construction business, helping build even stronger and more beautiful buildings. She on the other hand wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to do with her life. Perhaps she was still too young to know but she knew she wasn’t like her parents. She craved adventure and excitement, like a moth drawn to flame.

But there was really none to be had around where she lived; everything was so peaceful and perfect all the time. The most one could hope to do was go exploring and see what sort of things lived in the forest, perhaps one might find a new path or a cave but nothing was really dangerous or scary when it came to Tasogare. Perhaps what she needed to do was move to another planet where things were a bit livelier.

She spent years trying to save up money by doing different odd jobs and when it seemed she was almost there. That was when there was threat of war and she was one of the first to sign up and train against the Fearlings. In was in the army she found she had a knack for fighting, it was the kind of excitement she had been waiting for! Quite easily she rose up through the ranks. Her specialty was strategy and hand to hand combat and of course swordplay as well. She lived for the fight and they continued to have victory over their dark foes. It of course started to become harder and harder to ensure that they could fight off the attacks.

It was then that they were forced to call for The Golden Army, an army of Legend…with a General of Legend. His name alone was enough to make men bow their heads in respect and make the women swoon. Kozmotis Pitchiner…and Aurora would be lying if she said she wasn’t excited to see The General in action. Of course she didn’t have much hope in actually getting to ever speak with him. Let alone see him in person; he’d probably be too busy for someone like her.

~~~

The Camp

~~~

It was a few days after the Golden Army had set up camp within the forests, setting up watchtowers to blend into the trees so they could keep an eye toward the skies, watching for any sign of the Dream Pirates and the Fearlings. They had a good idea of which direction they would be coming from but just in case they had watchtowers dotted about just in case there was a change in attack.

Here and there, there were small battles of fearlings but nothing compared to what was to come. It was unknown as to how or why such a large number of fearlings and dream pirates had come together but it had proved to be a fierce union. Though hopefully with the native army and The Golden Army, they would be able to shatter the strength of the darkness and start seeing the beginnings of the end of the war.

Aurora had mostly kept out of the way of The Golden Army, helping take care of the small attacks of fearlings. Earlier that evening, there had been such an attack but it was one of the smaller groupings. About 300 feet away or so was the camp and she could hear them faintly, preparing for the night watch and tending to other duties.

She sighed to herself and sat herself upon a rock by the river and slid her fingers along the waters edge. This certainly had been the kind of excitement she had been looking for but it didn’t make her want to stay here. Not when there was a whole universe out there, begging to be explored. A soft smile touched her lips, perhaps after the war she’d see about joining The Golden Army…after all they were perhaps always up to something. A soft chuckle escaped her lips, thinking about the army made her think of The General, and as she suspected she hadn’t seen him once since their arrival. She had heard his name spoken here and almost spotted him once…she doubted there would ever be a meeting. Someone as important as him didn’t have time for anything else but preparing for the upcoming war…and of course being perfect.

_“Oh quiet your thoughts you silly girl.”_

The twilight above her head, darkened slightly to signal the coming of night. Of course day and night stayed about the same consistency. Only difference was the number of stars might see in the sky. She sighed softly and looked up and wondered just how much damage would be done to her home word…perhaps she wouldn’t even survive. Who knew what was going to come out of the sky, she leaned against a rock and watched the sky.

 

[Day Light](http://www.listofimages.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/night-sunset-lake-forest-tree-evening-nature.jpg)

 

[Night Light](http://www.zebpalmer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/MG_0521-as-Smart-Object-1.jpg)

He just _had_ to get away.

There was only so much even he could take. Earlier today, when two of the destroyers had crashed into each other because their anchors tore themselves out of what the engineers had suspected was solid rock, he had just nodded. It was not like they needed two destroyers for a planet like this - he didn’t plan on just bombing the whole surface. The engineers, of course, tried to blame each other for what happened, but he didn’t care much. Everyone made mistakes, and even though this had been a costly mistake, no one had been hurt. Material damage was something he dealt with almost every day.

The mountain of paperwork on the makeshift desk in his tent made him sigh, but it was also nothing unusual. Most of the forms just needed a quick signature, and it was his own damn fault for bringing everything else he had not managed to go through with him. A peaceful planet, they had said. Nothing to worry about, we won’t even need the full fleet, they had said. You’ll have time for your paperwork here, they had said. But he had taken the whole fleet anyway, because there was nothing worse than being unprepared for what might come. And it didn’t seem like he would get _anything_ piled up on his desk done today.

During the last briefing of the day, when more and more officers had joined and the tent was slowly getting crowded, he had fallen silent at some point, and they wouldn’t even take note of his disappearance until later. They were busy talking to each other and he wasn’t needed anymore, because the most important things had been discussed already. He had silently exited the tent, grabbing one of the charcoal cloaks that hung at the entrance and were meant for the nightwatch if they were cold. If he walked through the camp in his tarnished, white and silver armor, _someone_ was bound to ask where he was going, but after he had wrapped himself in the thick cloak and put up the hood, he looked just like one of the guards. Not even the two men standing guard at the entrance of the camp recognized him, or at least they acted like they didn’t, maybe because they got the idea of the whole cloak and hood thing - if this was the case, he was thankful for it.

He had seen the river near the camp before, its waters always looking like black ink to him in the eternal twilight, but he was still surprised to spot a lone figure at the bank - and he was almost relieved that the woman was none of his soldiers, and he somehow hoped the civilian wouldn’t instantly recognize him. Sometimes, in times like these, he missed being an ordinary soldier nobody knew.

“Evening.”, he mumbled as he neared the water, right before the flicker of a small flame illuminated the lower half of his face with a dim orange, lighting the cigarette between his lips. His head was tilted slightly, the other, armored hand protected the flickering flame from what little wind there was.

Aurora continued to stare up at the stars and tried to envision what her life was going to be like after the war was over. She dreamed of getting off this peaceful planet and into something that had more of a bite to it. Perhaps it was nothing more than the naïve wishes of a foolish youth. But she just couldn’t see herself ever being happy here and settling down…there was so much more out there than a life without conflict and excitement. She sighed to herself, neither of her parents knew where she got her personality…she wasn’t like them and craved so much more than what this world had to offer.

 

Those thoughts continued to spin through her mind until she heard a voice; one she didn’t quite recognize and she wondered who from The Golden Army would bother talking to her. She felt like she was nothing more than a native that was probably getting in their wait. Of course that was far from being true, her skill and drive made her quite a valuable soldier to have but she was a bit star struck. It was hard to imagine that she was even on the same playing field as them.

 

“Evening sir.”

 

The sound of flame reached her ear before the light caught her eye and she glanced over toward the man in the cloak. She tried to get a better idea of whom he was and it was easy enough because of the uniform. After all Generals had a special attire that differed and separated them from the other soldiers. She felt her heart jump into her throat; the very idea of _The_ General Kozmotis Pitchiner standing behind her was utterly insane. She had expected to never lay eyes on him because he was too important to bother with most soldiers. Her eyes cut back to the stream in front of her and she quietly played it off, it would be unprofessional to act as though his presence blew her mind…even though it did.

She probably couldn’t even begin to imagine how thankful the general was that she kept her composure. The last thing he needed right now was one of the locals going nuts about having met him. It was not that he didn’t like farmers and townsfolk of smaller planets, but he had become too famous to mingle with them. Everytime he tried to act _normal_ , to just grab an ale with a few of his soldiers when they were off duty, someone would just recognize him and if he got lucky, he could get away before dozens of people felt the need to tell him how much they looked up to him and how honored they were to meet him and whatnot. He couldn’t blame them - but sometimes he just wished he could be _normal_ , if only for a single day.

She had turned too quickly, her glance at him had been a split second too long - he knew she had recognized him. Maybe she was scared now, he couldn’t blame her if she was. It was a psychological thing - as soon as people saw military forces, they instantly had a bad conscience. Maybe she just thought he was a heartless bastard and ass, and some would have probably said that she wasn’t wrong with that opinion.

“I’d be glad if you could keep this to yourself.”, he simply said, the smoke resting between his armored fingers, looking almost like he had to be very careful not to crush the delicate cigarette. It didn’t sound like an order, it was more of a suggestion, because really… what could he do if she didn’t? He took another drag on the smoke, narrowing his eyes as he looked down the river. The damn twilight made it hard for him to see. He was used to sunlight and bright moons. The plates of his armor ground softly against each other as he shifted his weight a little, turning his head to look the other way, just past her. And then, all of a sudden, another thought occured to him.

“You don’t happen to be with the local militia, do you?”

Aurora kept her eyes to the water in front of her, since she had grown up upon this planet; she had an advantage of being able to see in the darkness. She could see the subtle colors of the water and the shades of blue and black that settled among the trees in the coming of night. There was a bit of a Riddick shine to them that allowed her to see things that most couldn’t see. Her eyesight was a touch above average, even among the natives of her planet.  It had always been to her advantage, especially when playing in the forest with the others as a child. Being able to find them in the darkest parts and to be able to spot elusive creatures when they were animal watching. It of course had served her very well in the fight against The Fearligns and The Dream Pirates. Being able to see in the dark when fighting against darkness was indeed a lovely skill to have.

 

When he spoke, she kept her mouth shut because she didn’t feel like she had much to offer him in conversation? What could a soldier of no consequence say to a General who was a legend and a hero? She’d keep her head down and wouldn’t bother him too much but she couldn’t help feel a tingle of excitement within her stomach but she would keep this moment to herself. There was no one to share it with really, it would stay in her mind and it would be something she’d relive while trying to find sleep. It was hard to imagine that this was actually taking place.  It did dawn her that someone like him must have carried a great deal of weight upon his shoulders and probably needed a moment alone every once in awhile. She wondered if she needed to excuse herself so he could have some time alone but strangely enough…she couldn’t get herself to move, let alone speak.

“I am.”

She really wasn’t quite the legend he was by any means, after all she lived on a small planet, and hadn’t seen the amount of war he had but she could hold her own well enough.  The planet’s army had called in generals from other planets to come and train the soldiers so it wasn’t as though they didn’t know what they were doing. They had all trained hard and been pushed to their limits. Aurora hadn’t quite chosen her specialties as much as they had chosen her. She was part of an elite group of hand-to-hand combaters and knew her way around a sword quite well. Of course she didn’t find herself to be anything special, especially among The Golden Army…After all the army itself was a legend and she was a small fish compared to the strength and skill they had. She didn’t even pretend to think she was in the same league as they were. More so when around Kozmotis, there was no way any of them could compare to his power. Though…she was rather star struck and possibly not giving herself enough credit but in that moment no one could have convinced her otherwise.

And even if she had expressed her concern, it would have not been the general’s duty to convince her otherwise. Everyone doubted themselves once in a while, even the most elitist soldiers did - but this was neither the time nor the place for self-doubt. He did not need men and women who sold themselves short, neither did he need show-offs bursting with false confidence. He was the guy who preferred decent men and women.

“And you know these woods like the back of your hand.”, he added, and even though he didn’t make it sound like a question, it seemed to be one. By now, his eyes rested on the girl, not with a piercing gaze but rather because he had manners, and it was simple courtesy to look at someone when you talked to them, no matter who it was. He would have given a common thief on the streets the same amount of polite attention as a member of the House Lunar.

“I could use someone who knows their way around here.”, he continued without waiting for an answer, because he felt he owed her at least an explanation. Everything else would have simply been rude. “We have our own scouts, but they can hardly see in the forest. What’s your name, Miss?”

Oh, he could sound so _normal_.

Perhaps Aurora was someone who sold herself short but she wasn’t one to spout off her emotions either. Especially now that she was a soldier, she kept them locked away and hidden from the world. If anyone saw your weakness then you were dead and that was something she took to heart. Even if she didn’t think she was in the same league as the other soldiers she would keep moving forward. Despite whatever emotions she had for the General, he would never know because for one, it wasn’t professional and for two, he was too important to be bothered with trivial emotions.

 

“I do and I will do whatever is needed of me to ensure the victory of The Golden Army.”

 

It was easy enough to keep her responses to the point and of course they held no emotion; she glanced to him, and kept everything locked away. Despite whatever was going on within, her eyes showed a steady respect. Foremost she had to be a soldier because in these moments her priorities had to be set upon keeping her homework safe. These were the things she had to tell herself, anything less and she would be a disgrace. She could not shame herself or the honor of her unit.

 

“My name is Aurora Sir.”

 

There was no longer anything relaxed about her being, she straightened and had to find a way to look professional while setting down. Suddenly this wasn’t her off time, she was now on duty…but then again there was never any off time really. Though she wondered just how it was that she managed to come across him…or rather how the hell did he manage to come across her? This was a chance meeting that seemed so impossible for someone so damn important…she would certainly be reliving every moment of this later.

“Aurora.”, he repeated, mildly amused by the fact that she did indeed sound like she was on duty - or rather as stiff as a poker. Of course. Why would anyone in his presence ever want to act normal? At least she hadn’t saluted yet, but she probably would, sooner or later. There was nothing wrong with saluting, but at the moment he didn’t even feel like using his last name, let alone his rank, and that was precisely why he didn’t introduce himself. She knew who he was anyway.

“Is that something your superiors told you to say when asked?”, he mused as he cast his gaze across the river again. “To support the army at all costs?” It was, of course, _the_ army. Not _his_ army, even though some people might have called the whole fleet _his_ army, _his_ Golden Army… but that was, simply put, bullshit. He didn’t own the army, nor was he the only general. There were others, and even though they had retired, he still saw them as equals.

He doused the cigarette by simply squashing the glowing tip between his thumb and index finger. The leather of the armored gloves was thick enough to endure the heat, and he didn’t even throw the stub into the river or anywhere else, he simply put it back into the small leather pouch holding the other smokes as well as his lighter. It was not that he cared about the envorinment, but he didn’t want to show the enemy where he usually went for a smoke. Letting the stub lie around was the same as if he’d simply staple a note to one of the trees asking for an ambush.

“This is my home…I’ll do anything to save it from the enemy.”

 

Oh, someone was rather jaded and that was kind of a shock to the system but not really that surprising. She couldn’t imagine the sort of things he had seen and fought against, after all the only enemy she had known were the fearlings. What other sort of monsters and low lives had he gone up against? She supposed she should be amazed that he still had sanity left. Though it was best to not even think about it, all the hell he’d seen and the long dark nights of traveling through the vast reaches of space.

 

After a moment though, she looked away and let her eyes fall upon the river, it was hard know how to act around someone like The General…sure she knew that he wasn’t the only general but he was a Legend and the things he had done were rather mind blowing. The courage and fearlessness he had shown was known through out the planets. Perhaps he was just a normal man doing what came naturally to him but no one could over look the fact that the things he had done were beyond extraordinary. Maybe one day she’d be able to do the all the things that legends were made of…but she’d need to get off this planet first.

 

If only there was something more she could say to him, but nothing important came to mind…or rather nothing appropriate came to mind and that was probably a shame. She was a soldier foremost but under that, she was a young woman craving some sort of excitement that would make her feel alive. Of course how much more alive could she feel in his presence? Though she reminded herself that maybe it might be better to treat him like a man rather than someone who was utterly untouchable…but she didn’t even know how to go about that. What if he preferred for people to keep their distance and treat him with respect and distance…At the moment he hadn’t given her much reason to do anything more or less.  

And for a moment, an almost uncomfortable silence fell between the two of them. It was the same silence that usually caused one person to say an awkward goodbye and simply leave, but that didn’t happen. Instead, the soft sound of metal on metal could be heard again as he moved, and after another few seconds, there was the distinct clicking of the lighter as he lit another smoke. And - it would probably strike someone like Aurora as somewhat strange - he even began to talk.

“You know…”, he mumbled, the cigarette between dry lips whilst he put the lighter back into the leather pouch and stowed it away. “Smoking in the dark is the most stupid thing to do. If there was a sniper out there somewhere, he’d just have to aim at the perfectly visible target I’m giving him.” That was something every young soldier learned, and _if_ they couldn’t keep themselves from smoking, they were at least supposed to cover the glowing tip of the cigarette with the palm of their hand. Some never let go of that habit, even after they left the army. And just before the young woman could ask herself if he _really_ had sanity left, because he sounded as if he was just babbling, he continued with what sounded like a simple conclusion.

“Light also attracts Fearlings.”

And even though the blonde man was almost blind in the twilight, he was far from helpless, but it would be Aurora who would see the small, shadowy creature first. It had the shape of a starved monkey, its long arms touching the ground, the back of its hands used as means to support the rest of its body. A row of sharp teeth could be seen through the leaves it was hiding in, to their left, in a bush with only the faintest of rustling revealing its presence. It was a small one, not larger than an ordinary dog, but even the small ones could be dangerous if they caught you off guard.

The metallic clacking of a sword being losened from its sheath could be heard from the general’s side, but he didn’t draw it, he had simply put his hand on the sheath below the guard and losened the blade with his thumb. He didn’t even turn his head into the direction of the rustling, as if he hadn’t noticed the small creature at all. Instead, he took another drag on his cigarette.

It would have been more than understandable if he wondered off; she wouldn’t have even expected a goodbye but he didn’t just leave instead he continued to talk softly and she didn’t understand why. That struck her as a bit odd and she almost felt self-conscious with him simply being there. There was nothing really interesting about her and there were of course other natives he could probably talk to. There was nothing special about her other than the fact she wasn’t allowing herself to get excited in his presence. She glanced toward him and watched the light flicker from his cigarette.

 

“Yes…light can attract all sorts of fun little enemies.”

 

She had never quite thought of it like that but indeed there were disadvantages to light, especially within the darkness, which meant that light was always a danger here. Her home was a place of the eternal twilight…and it could almost be understandable as to why creatures of darkness might prefer it here. It was a strange epiphany to have and it almost made her feel stupid for not putting such thoughts together sooner. Though it was almost understandable, after all she had lived her entire life here and didn’t really know the brightness of a sun or the glow of moonlight.

 

Suddenly she became very aware of the sounds around them, there was something close to them that did not belong. She could only guess that the General’s cigarette had drawn it out, it was looking for something and it was alone. Possibly a straggler from one of the earlier attacks…but she also knew that not all fearlings travelled in packs. They were both lone creatures and had the pact mentality. At this moment she was no longer aware of the general, her training kicked in and the threat needed to die. Her mind began to work quickly, how to destroy the threat without drawing too much attention. Hand to hand combat involved a lot of assassin techniques. One had to be quick and quiet, to kill an enemy without being heard or seen.

 

One had to always take in the situation and the consequences of every action and this had to be done within moments. Luckily though, fearlings weren’t the smartest of creatures but even so they were still dangerous when left unchecked. The General was in her way and her eye twitched a bit but it was only a minor inconvenience. She leaned back as if she were stretching her out a bit. She never moved her head but she could see the fearling out of the corner of her eye. She flicked her wrist suddenly and a throwing knife embedded itself deeply into the creature’s forehead.

 

Soundlessly she moved from her spot, within moments she was already standing above the fearling, she pulled her knife from its resting place. The fearling didn’t even have a chance to cry out, her methods were perhaps different but the results were unquestionable. She had forgotten all about The General as she listened for any other quiet sounds. If there was one, there was a chance there were others. There was no wind and no sound, it was still and she looked through the darkness…for the time being it seemed that there was only one fearling near the camp and it was dead. 

It was a pity that she didn’t see the general pull down the corners of his mouth a bit, in a simple ‘not bad’ expression. He fastened the blade in its sheath again with the same metallic clack as before. Even as she had moved past him with almost feline grace, he had not moved one bit, but had instead followed her with his eyes.

“That is why you should never smoke in the dark.”, he concluded as if this had been the whole reason for his lesson earlier, even though it was something entirely different he had seen. It had been everything he had expected, maybe even more. He took a last drag from his smoke, doused the glow in the same manner as before and put the stub away, turning around, towards the camp again. The lights near the tents were few, but they were clearly visible in the twilight, and even though Fearlings acted mostly on instinct, they were not entirely stupid. Lone Fearlings would not attack the camp.

“Walk with me, if you like.”, he added as he set his first steps back towards the camp.

“…Right.”

 

She kneeled down and cleaned her blade in the river before putting it back into place. Even if she had seen his expression, she probably wouldn’t have known what to make of it. To her, she was only doing her job and what she was trained to do, there was nothing special about it…it was simply her job. If only she applied the same logic to him, he was only doing his job. Perhaps it wasn’t remarkable to him…just like what she had just done was not remarkable to her. Others would have probably been impressed with her skill but to her it was simply just a learned skill.

 

“Yes sir.”

 

Quietly she went after him and looked to the camp in front of her, it was quite a good thing they weren’t in a clearing. In the darkness of twilight, the lights were beacons and that was only asking for trouble. It was a good thing the canopy above them was so thick with only a few patches of sky to be seen. Still, they might need to revise their usage of light. Dim the lights or something of that matter but she knew that these men were not equipped with seeing in the dark like the natives. This posed a problem and they would need to prepare a solution before the enemy could truly use this against them.

Or maybe she hadn’t understood what all of this just now had been about. Either this was the case, or she was really, really uptight in front of someone like him. Either way, she had proven that she was _good_ , and that’s all the general needed to know. It had not been his intention to attract a Fearling, but it had come in handy. Maybe she hadn’t even understood why he had lit the third cigarette as soon as he had noticed it - because the creature would have attacked him instead of her, he was holding the lightsource after all. But it didn’t matter. If she told her friends that this asshole of a general was just standing around lazily, smoking his damn tobacco while she saved his ass… what the hell. He’d been called an asshole before. As if he cared.

“We don’t have scouts who can see in the dark.”, he explained, his tone suddenly as if he was getting back to business. He didn’t sound normal anymore, not like a guy his age would sound while chatting. He sounded slightly dictatorial, like someone who wasn’t used to formulating requests but rather to barking orders. “I’ll have one of the nurses take a look at you to see if you’re in good health. Afterwards, you can scout a few areas where we’re suspecting Fearling activity.”

And even though he did not sound _rude_ or even unfriendly, there was a certain edge to his voice. He walked past the two night guards, saluting them swiftly as they snapped to attention upon recognizing him, doing the same.

“Very well sir.”

 

Given an order by The Legend himself…now that was every soldier’s wet dream or perhaps it was just hers. The thought of receiving _any_ order from him was sort of a dream come true. She knew that she was already in good health or else her local unit wouldn’t have allowed her to join or be a part of this mission. But she didn’t mind having to get checked out again because it meant that she’d be doing important scouting missions. Now that was rather exciting! Though this excitement stayed muted, she continued to keep a professional and emotional distance from him.

 

It probably would have come as a surprise to The General but she honestly had no plans of talking to anyone about the evening’s events. Further more, she had absolutely no plans to ever reveal to anyone what her thoughts of him were. Aurora’s certainly didn’t need any of those things reaching his ears. The chances of him caring weren’t very great but it wasn’t a chance she was willing to take. He was her general and that’s all he’d ever be…what more could she ever expect?

 

Once they walked through the she saluted the guards as well and followed after him. Aurora wondered if she should just go off to the nurses’ tent or was she suppose to continue in following him, he hadn’t dismissed her and that made her feel a bit awkward.

She didn’t need to worry about that, because Kozmotis went straight for one of the tents with a red cross on its sides, ducking ever so slightly as he entered. It was not a large tent, but there were a few camp beds lined up on one side while boxes with medical supplies were stacked on the opposite tent wall. And at the end of what could be described as a small MASH, there was a nurse close to a desk lamp, reading a book. She had grey hair and a somewhat stout body, and she had the looks of a teacher - one that could be very kind and understanding, but also one you never talked back to.

“Kozmotis!”, she exclaimed merrily as she saw the general entering, shut her book and got up from her chair. And as he straightened himself after entering, she quickly looked him over. “You don’t look half dead this time. What’re you… oh!”

That was when she saw the young woman he had brought with him, and she gave her the brightest of smiles, looking more like the nice aunt that always gave you money when your parents weren’t looking instead of a nurse. “Sweetie, are you hurt?”, she asked, with the same merry voice as before.

“Kethavin.”, the general simply greeted the nurse with a nod, obviously ignoring her comment about his physical state while gesturing towards Aurora. “I need you to take a look at Miss Aurora here. She’s one of the locals - a scout, if you will.” By the time he had finished his sentence, she was already handing him what seemed to be a steaming cup of tea of coffee, and he took it without hesitation.

“Would you like some tea as well, sweetie?”, the nurse asked Aurora, already filling another cup from the teapot on her small desk at the end of the tent. ‘No’ was probably not an acceptable answer, and at least the general knew this.

Much to Aurora’s relief he lead her straight into the nursing tent, it wasn’t the biggest tent there was but it served its purpose well enough. There were nursing tents dotted across the army’s camp. It was very much hoped that they wouldn’t see too much use but there was no telling with this war. Everything was up in the air and the war truly hadn’t even started as of yet. The only true hope and wish most soldiers had were that the only losses were on the enemies side. A naïve wish of child’s prayer but no one ever wanted to think about loss of life on their side.

 

She glanced toward the nurse and it would seem that The General and this woman knew each other well. It figured really, no one could do the things he had done without getting hurt. There had to be a lot of luck and skill on his side and that’s what made everything about him so amazing. Skills and a little luck had certainly taken him far and he fought for everything every step of the way…rather impressive really.

 

“Thank…you ma’am.”

 

Normally she would have passed on the tea but with the no, none sense vibe radiating off her, there was really no point in telling her no. Especially when she was already poring the cup. Though she wondered just what the nurse would be checking for and if he would stand there in waiting the entire time. Hopefully this wouldn’t take too long and she would tell The General what Aurora already knew.

But the armored man had the decency to turn around with his cup of tea as the nurse approached the young woman. It was just a normal examination, but still the nurse insisted on checking Aurora’s pulse, her blood pressure, her temperature and all the small things she could check without taking blood from her. It didn’t take longer than 10 minutes, and all the while the general stood at the entrance to the tent, holding it open with one hand to look outside. He didn’t speak, because the nurse kept talking about how her temperature was okay, her pulse was fine, her blood pressure spoke of a little excitement but that was just normal and so on.

When she had finally finished her examination, she nodded and took the teacup from both Aurora and the general (and at least the latter had emptied it by then) and wished both of them a good night, hoping they could get any sleep with this strange twilight outside. She obviously couldn’t, because ‘it always made her feel like it was too early to go to bed or already morning’ - which was, at least for Kozmotis, perfectly understandable. He felt the same way.

“I’ll show you the areas I need to have scouted.”, he said on his way back to one of the larger tents - not his personal tent but rather a makeshift war room with a huge map of the whole area on a table in the middle. Wherever the army had gotten that map, it was pretty accurate. “But”, he added as he walked into the tent, flipping the switch on a nearby lamp to have some light, “You’ll report back to your own unit first. Your commanding officer has to know where you’re going, because I don’t want anyone yelling at me for sending his soldiers off without them knowing.”

Aurora simply sat there and listened to the nurse prattle on about this and that. She stayed void of much emotion though her eyes did stay on General Kozmotis the entire time. Not that he she expected him to turn around or anything of that matter but even if he had, she would have stayed stoic through the entire ordeal. It was nothing more than a check up and it didn’t really require him to even turn around. Though she did note that was very much a gentleman’s characteristic and that only made her admire him all the more.  He had his own flaws of course but they all had their special little quarks. It only made her question more what kind of man he was when no one was around…

 

Once the nurse had given her a check to go and a cup of tea, she followed him into the tent and looked down at the map. It was impressive that had gotten such a map but it was probably because someone here gave it to them. She looked it over and sipped her tea, hoping to get through it before he made her do anything much. She glanced over at him and listened to him, it was perfectly acceptable to want to check in with her unit first. Not that her Captain would mind at all…more or less it was quietly accepted that The Golden Army was more or less in charge of this. The native army was more or less there to help defend and help with the terrain. The native army was quite small compared to theirs and they helped in any way they were able.

 

“Yes sir.”

 

With that she finished her cup of tea and headed to her captain and gave him the short version of the story. She would be scouting under the order of General Pitchiner and as expected they were shocked and impressed. Though the pressure was added not to let the General down and make the unit look bad. That certainly made her feel better about everything, she sighed to herself and returned to the war room and nodded to him.

 

“Everything is cleared sir, I may take whatever orders you have for me.”

By the time she got back, the general wasn’t alone in the war room anymore. There was a Pooka with him, charcoal fur and almost a head taller than the general. He turned his head towards the entrance to the large tent as Aurora entered, ears perking up. Kozmotis himself paused his explanation to the Pooka for a second to follow his gaze, nodded at the girl and continued.

“…going to use tunnels anyway.”, he finished whatever he had been saying before, and the Pooka nodded. He seemed to be fairly young, but even he had his share of scars, clearly visible as white lines in his otherwise black fur. Small scars, nothing serious, but they spoke of the life he led. He gave a quick salute which the general returned and nodded at the girl as he walked past her to leave.

The general turned his gaze towards the girl as he put both hands on the table with the map, leaning slightly forward, supporting his weight with his arms. Now that the lighing illuminated most of his face, she could clearly see shadows under his eyes due to not enough sleep - but that was probably quite normal for someone like him. He wasn’t the kind of guy who would sleep in while there was a battle to be won in a war that had not quite started yet.

Aurora felt rather foolish at this moment, she really should have checked to make sure no one else was in there with him. It was just she didn’t expect anyone to be at this time of night. At this stage of the game, she really should have expected it…he was a general and he was always needed. There was always someone who would need a word with him or permission to do something. How could she have forgotten how important he really was? She had been so wrapped up in getting back to him with clearance from her unit that she hadn’t thought of anything else. So much for being professional around him at all times…that was a terrible slip.

 

“Forgive me sir…”

 

Though it hadn’t gotten past her that, that was a Pooka but she didn’t know that any of them had come to this Planet. It made sense though, they probably had a few in the army but it was the first time she had ever seen one. There was something rather remarkable, they were a powerful bunch and their wisdom and intelligence was well known. Though it seemed they weren’t often seen and usually not involved with the affairs of others. It only reminded her of how serious the threat was when it came to the fearlings and the dream pirates. They certainly were at war and everyone had a part to play in this and she needed to make sure that she played hers well.

 

Her thoughts shattered into a million pieces when the light lit up his beautiful features. The signs of being worn and sleepless could be read clearly across her face and she wasn’t surprised in the very least. Though she was pretty sure that there was a point of fatigue that he shouldn’t let himself reach or he’d be no good to anyone. There was a certain amount of sleep they all needed to get so they could function at their best. There was a certain need to reach out and stroke his cheek softly, lull him to sleep, and have him resting in her arms and to have him tire for another reason…The thought sent a chill through her spine but she didn’t dare speak it or even allow any emotion to cross her face. She simply stood there and waited for him to speak and give orders to her.

But he was either too tired to care or simply saw her more as a civilian than a soldier, because he just dismissed her apology with a nod. She was, even though he gave orders, not one of his men and there was no point in any kind of punishment especially since she had obviously understood what she had done wrong. And in all honesty, the general would not let a confidential discussion take place in an open, unguarded tent where just about everyone could walk in like she did. There was no harm done.

“Did you get permission from your superiors?”, he simply asked, straightening himself as he started to peel the armored gloves from his hands, one finger at a time. There were the usual, red marks on his fingers and hands from the leather inside the gloves, but that was nothing unusual. Every soldier was used to that, and it was just the same as red marks from socks or pants on the skin.

“Yes sir…everything is cleared.”

 

Aurora stood where she was awaited further orders from him, it looked as though he wasn’t going to punish her for being stupid and unprofessional or perhaps worse…he didn’t see her worth the time. That was a terrible thought indeed, which meant she was going to have to prove herself to him. If she didn’t, she’d disgrace her unit, and if that happened…her family. Then again she was probably overthinking everything but that didn’t stop her from wanting to prove to The General that she was worth his time and could come through for every single mission. It was all rather exciting and very stressful, she wondered if it would be like this if he wasn’t legend…would she feel differently about all of this?

 

It was extremely hard to keep her thoughts stilled sometimes…more to the point it was hard when he was around and that had only been for the last hour. She had no idea what she was going to do with herself, their time together would quite a bit more than she had ever planned for. She had always known that he was going to be in camp and on the battlefield with them but she had never expected to ever see him…let alone be noticed by him and personally commanded by him. This was either very good luck or would end up being a very…lovely curse.

 

Either way, she was still awaiting his orders and watching more of that lovely skin get revealed. Oh saints alive, what was she even doing here at this point? She felt like her eyes should be looking else where, the ground or glancing out the tent door. But now…she was staring at him, no emotion, and her thoughts running ramped. This was a slow torture she had not expected. What else would he be removing and why? The answer didn’t matter…all the mattered was… _NO._ She stilled her thoughts and stood there, never allowing emotions to be revealed as she awaited further word from him.

Well, it was not like he was stripping, and the red marks on his hands were far from attractive to most people. And it didn’t really look like he was just going to take off his armor in the middle of a tent where basically everyone could walk in, just like she had done. Besides, taking off plate armor took half an hour, if not more.

At least she could say more than ‘yes sir’.

Just as he was about to say something, someone else burst into the tent, eyes wide, a look of shock on his face. A young man, maybe a private, dark brown hair and - this was what worried the general most - loaded rifle in hand.

“General, Sir.”, he said, seemed to almost forget to salute but remembered just before it was too late, even though it looked a bit sloppy. “I think you should come see this.”

Aurora didn’t need to ask what was going on and nor did she need to ask for orders. The mission was suddenly very clear; they were under attack, and by the look in the soldier’s eye they could be in some serious trouble. Not that in matter to her one way or another, she was suddenly uninterested in everything else. The cry of battle heated her blood and she sprinted off toward the heat of it. While most everyone was reaching for guns and so forth, she only needed her hands and the blades she carried. Her physical demeanor changed from a shy soldier to that of a seasoned fighter. Someone comfortable on the battlefield and at ease with up and close attacks.

 

Her eyes scanned the chaos in front of her and she dashed into the thick of the fearlings, her blades slashing through the fearlings, her body moved quickly and she dodged attacks and kept her focus on them and what was happening around her. She honed her instincts to quick reactions and allowed her eyesight and hearing to lead every move. Every second was crucial and every movement had to have purpose. She continued to move through them, it was amazing how many there were but she knew that they could handle them. They would continue to fight and with The Golden Army on their side, there was no way they would lose.

 

As she moved through the battlefield, she kept very aware of her surroundings, no longer was the General on her mind. The only thing she could think of was the quickest way to end each fearling. To her right there was a soldier who was hopelessly outnumbered and in trouble and without thinking she moved toward his aid and fought along side him, bites, and scratches were hard to avoid but it did not ever enter her mind to abandon him. She threw her knives and used the blades hidden in the soles of her shoes to slice open her prey. It took several moments of fighting before she was able to drag the soldier away to safety.

 

“GET HIM TO THE HOSPITAL TENT!” She shouted at the other soldiers as she headed back out, “But you’re bleeding as well miss!” She continued back into the fighting, “I’m fine!”

 

They tried to call back to her to get bandaged but she ignored their calls and went back into the fighting. She was blind to the pain and more focused on what was in front of her, fearlings everywhere, writhing in the darkness and trying to destroy the soldiers. Not on her watch, she wouldn’t allow this to take place…wouldn’t ever give into them and would keep fighting until the very breath of her was gone.

 

She continued to fight with her blades, a great deal of them hidden on her person, within her sleeves, her jacket, belt, shoes, and of course her hair as well. These were the weapons she knew best and they were the weapons they became a part of her more than anything else. From time to time she would find another soldier overwhelmed by the enemy and she would do her best to help them. Each time though, it added to her own injuries but she ignored the pain because it was important to fight the fearlings as well as save as many lives as she could. Perhaps it wasn’t a saying in the army but she wouldn’t leave any man behind if she could help it.

Oh, he just loved when all hell broke loose.

He had never heard three of his officers barking orders at once to restore at least some order to the chaos that had spread throughout the camp, nor had he seen engineers working more feverish to get more lamps working. Sadly, the Fearlings were not stupid, they were somewhat organized and they knew the soldiers couldn’t see a thing in the dark - so they had attacked what little light there was, knocking down lanterns and dousing campfires. They had even seen to it that one of the generators at the far side of the camp had gone up in flames. Ironically, the burning generator illuminated half the camp at least a little.

Gunshots echoed through the twilight from rifles as well as pistols, drowning shouts and barked orders, tearing through the screeching of the Fearling attack like hot knives. Painful screams from shadowy creatures mixed with those of humans, and he could see at least two of the healers and three nurses tending to the wounded the best they could. They had Captain Noycan’s men as protection all around them, so they would be fine. The captain knew what he was doing, after all.

A war scythe was a weapon meant for mounted combat, but that didn’t keep the general from cutting down Fearlings like grass on foot. It was harder to balance the weapon and to swing it without the momentum from a war horse that turned and moved on its own, but it was possible, and the general was good with a weapon like that. He was, however, far from invincible, and as one of the smaller creatures jumped and literally hugged his head, he lost his balance, letting go of the scythe to rip the damn thing from his head, crushing what felt like bones or chitin with his armored hands. He could feel the echo of his heartbeat on his temple, on the cut the damn thing had left, but he was not getting dizzy - meaning the wound wasn’t too deep and therefore no reason to be careful.

While the girl fought on the front lines, saving and supporting soldiers, she would not be able to continue her pace forever. At one point, she would become dizzy from the injuries and blood loss, and dizziness eventually led to the inability to continue fighting. Sooner or later, she would fall without being able to get back up again, and Fearlings would swarm her, tearing her apart…

…or they would have, rather, if it hadn’t been for the massive blade that tore through them just in front of her, the hilt of the weapon missing her head by maybe an inch just before she was grabbed by the back of her collar and pulled away. If she looked up, she would see the general, one side of his face blood stained, blood that had dripped onto his shoulder and the chest plate of his armor, and he swung the heavy weapon with one arm as best as he could. It was enough to keep the Fearlings at bay as he dragged Aurora back to the camp like a broken ragdoll. He was not gentle - because there was simply no time for that.

Aurora continued to move through, keeping an eye around her at the chaos as it unfolded. She may not have been seasoned like the rest of them but she knew this wasn’t just some small attack. This had to be a prelude to something much bigger and this just simply wouldn’t do. She didn’t even get the chance to scout, one moment she’s getting prepared to go get orders and the next she’s dashing through the battlefield. The unpredictable nature of war…or more to the point, the unpredictable nature of fearlings would be what the death of many. She’d be the first to admit that she was still fresh and perhaps couldn’t predict the behavior of them like some good but it would seem she was doing better than some on the field. Too many of the soldiers were letting themselves got surrounded by fearlings. She knew though, that she couldn’t help every single soldier who found themselves overwhelmed but she was trying.

 

It was a terrible thing to be bitten by a fearling, their rows of sharp teeth and they weren’t terribly long but they had a bit of width to them. It was width that would get you in trouble; too many bites from them and you’d be feeling light headed. Aurora wasn’t terrible sure how many had actually taken a bite out of her, probably too many but there wasn’t a lot to be done for that. She had to keep moving and had to keep fighting for as long as she could, she couldn’t tell if they had even made a dent in them in yet. How were they fairing overall through this? How much longer before they actually squashed this attack and how many men were dead…how many had she failed to help?

 

Those thoughts weren’t productive and she couldn’t afford to think like that, not right now. She could feel her limbs becoming a bit heavier but she continued to push through, she tried to stay concentrated on what was around her. The screams of soldiers, the growls and hisses of the fearlings, the sound of weapons being used; these were the sounds that she kept her mind focused on while her eyes stayed focused on what was around her. To her left soldiers were being dragged off the battlefield, to her right a soldier was being ripped apart and there was nothing she could do for him. In front of her soldiers and fearlings tearing into each other.

 

_And to think…this isn’t even close to being the main event._

 

It was hard not to be grimly amused by that, this was nothing close to what was waiting for them. The main battle would be just as bad if not worse than what they were facing now. Her unit had no idea what they were in for but she was starting to get an idea that things were going to get so much worse and she wondered if anyone in her unit would survive…would she? Her blades connected to every fearling could reach, not allowing herself to stay still for even a moment; if she faltered then she would probably be dead. However she was starting to notice that her movements were not as quick as they needed to be. Had she lost too much blood and was she getting to her limit? A gasp escaped her lips as she forced herself to keep moving and fighting…

 

There was a flash of metal and the breeze of something that swept by her face, she blinked as fearlings were torn apart in front of her. Everything around her seemed to slow and she glanced behind her just in time to feel herself get jerked off the battlefield. It was a shock to her system and she jerked her head to see what had her… _The General_ himself was forcibly removing her from the battleground. That could not be good at all…what was happening that he felt it necessary to drag her away? The thoughts were a haze as she looked up at him, he was bleeding, and it made her notice her own injuries at last. She let a soft gasp escape her lips, everything suddenly throbbed and there was nothing gentle about the way he drug her away. She said nothing and continued to grip her blades; she could even feel the jerk of his body every time he swung that scythe. At this point she expected to be literally thrown into the camp. She tried to keep up and use her legs but she couldn’t seem to find the ground under her.

The sound of the first ship cannon being fired was almost deafening, a massive thunderclap that echoed in the distance and drowned every single noise for a few long seconds. Barked orders, by others as well as Kozmotis himself were cut off by the noise, other soldiers, especially the younger ones, winced, some even tried to cover their ears. But not only the humans (and one or two Pookas) were affected by the booming noise - some of the fearlings, especially the nasty ones looking like massive, black centipedes roared in pain, twitching and sometimes doubling over.

The shell hit the ground a few dozen feet in front of the retreating soldiers, the ground trembling with its impact as it tore a massive crater into the ground, patches of trampled grass and earth flying in all directions, raining down on the soldiers, the fearlings and everything else.

Still, orders were shouted across what had once been the base camp, irregular gunshots could be heard, words like ‘retreat’, ‘fall back’, ‘airship’ and ‘cover’ could be heard more than once. A second booming thunder from one of the airship’s cannons sent another shell flying, this time closer to the camp but still far enough from the first few retreating soldiers, not harming anyone but the Fearlings.

The general was still dragging the young woman across the field, not caring about her tries to get up on her own feet, and obviously not caring about her injuries as he let go of her collar and instead picked her up to carry her over his shoulder. Pain would subside, wounds would heal, cuts could be sewn shut, bones fixed… but for that to happen, you needed to _survive_ in the first place.

He was running - no, limping - now, his armored shoulder digging into her stomach, one hand on her back to secure her where she was. The other hand was still holding the polearm. Aurora could, if she turned her head just a little, see the other soldiers running next to them, followed by the black wave of Fearlings chasing them. Some of the shadowy creatures fell with every gunshot, others tripped over them, slowing their chase considerably, and at some point they passed a few aiming soldiers, footsteps now so much louder on wooden and metallic floor, the humming of the airship’s turbines almost next to them. A door was slammed shut with almost the same noise the ship’s cannons had made, and from one moment to the next, everything was dead silent save for the grunting, panting and moaning of some of the more severely injured soldiers.

They had apparently made it into the safety of the airship.

The sound was more than deafening, it seemed to silence her very heartbeat. Everything seemed to stop and nothing existed outside of the thunderous silence that the cannon created. Nothing had ever hurt her in the way that sound had, it seemed to make her insides ring in a tremendous and strange agony. She almost grabbed her chest to make sure her heart was still beating. Everything around her seemed to writhe in the same pain for just a few seconds before the world sped up once more. The shock of reality returning to speed was enough to make her dizzy, it was like being punched in the chest and she tried to gasp for breath. How in the hell could something cause that much sensory overload?! It was only moments later that she had even noticed that the ground had more or less rained down upon them, covering her in earth, making her skin a dark and sickly brown as it mixed into the blood dripped from her.

 

She continued to try and find the ground under her but kept failing as he drug her along. In the mists of all the chaos and confusion, she could make out bits and of words being shouted but it was hard to put it all together. Something about a ship and maybe something about retreating, where they retreating, was this attack worse than it appeared? The view in front of her or rather the view behind Kozmotis was starting to come together.

 

Soldiers were running toward them and past them in droves and the fearlings were slowly closing in. There were so many…more than she had realized was actually out there. So it would seem they had not made a dent at all, not the kind of dent she had been hoping for. How many lives have been lost and how many had she failed in trying to protect? She put her hand to her mouth and just watched numbly as they ran. Those who were further behind weren’t going to make it; the fearlings were already closing in and started to pick them off. The shrieks of pain and despair pierced the air and it felt like she was being stabbed in the heart. There was nothing anyone could do for them and they would be lost, like tears in the rain.

 

In a few short violent movements she was no longer being dragged but tossed on his shoulder like she was nothing more than a sack. She let out a silent scream, that had both startled her and hurt more than she had expected it would. How badly was she hurt that something like that would cause so much pain? Perhaps the force of his movements had hurt more than anything, it was hard to tell. Everything hurt and she stared across the field and it was truly in that moment that the horror of it could really be seen. Not just snippets of lost soldiers…the fearlings were much like a storm closing in on the battlefield. They were descending like madness on the winds and their darkness was devouring everything it touched…

 

The limp in his run became even more apparent to her and she almost hissed as the metal in her dug in more, his armor was forming a deep grove into her with every movement he made. She gritted her teeth together and bore the pain because there wasn’t much else she could do…

 

_Run…Run…RUN! FASTER, RUN FASTER! RUN!_

It was the only thing that she could think; it was like a mantra in her head as they moved toward the airship. Everything took a strange metallic sound to it before she was dropped ungracefully to the ground. She leaned herself against the wall and stared in front of her, the wounded was all around her…and she was one of them. The only reason she was alive at this moment was The General. Part of her was grateful for that and part of her was ashamed that he had to save her at all. She glanced up toward him and wondered how bad his injuries were.

 

There were orders being shouted in the distance but everything sounded so far away at that point. The only thing she could really hear were the cries of pain, groaning, and other sounds of misery. She made no sound and simply sat there, wanting desperately to say something to General Pitchiner but nothing came to mind. Her body was now in considerable pain and she looked at her limbs, all of that fighting had put a lot of strain on her. There were some bite marks, claw marks and of course bruising. It didn’t a lot for a fearling to cripple someone. She had faired better than most of them but she’d still need tending.

 

_“…Damn.”_

Kozmotis’ injuries were not as bad as they looked - he was still standing unlike some of the other soldiers, and it didn’t look as if he wanted to stay for too long. He wiped at his left eye, wiping away blood that threatened to impair his vision too much. It was a rough gesture, but it did the job.

“Tend to the wounded.”, he said in a hoarse voice to one of the younger soldiers near the airlock, one who looked like he could at least carry a few bandages and apply them. “I want a list of casualities as soon as possible. If a squad lost their commanding officer, count them by hand if neccessary.”

With that, he went upstairs, barking orders to whoever was in his way. The thundering shots from the cannons were muffled inside the airship, but with every shot, the whole frame of the ship vibrated softly. And it would not be until much later that they truly were what one could call safe under these circumstances. The Fearlings had not managed to breach the ship’s hull and the cannons had considerably thinned their ranks.

The next time Aurora would see Kozmotis was after long, long hours. The critically injured soldiers were brought into the med bay first, then the ones who were unconscious from shock, blood loss or something else, and after them everybody else. A few beds in the ship’s med bay were occupied with unconscious or sleeping soldiers, the lights had been turned off in the rear section of the room so they could get some well deserved rest while the front of the room was still lit with artificial light. They had seated Aurora on one of the beds where she could see the entrance, they had cleaned and then bandaged her wounds and every other injury she had, but she was supposed to sit down until the drip-feeding above her head was empty, because she had lost quite some blood.

While a young nurse tended to another patient, the general walked in and sat down on one of the chairs close to the door - they were obviously for soldiers and other crewmembers who had to wait, but he didn’t really seem to care. Apart from half of his face, his neck and the armor being covered in blood he looked okay, but dead tired. A spot on his temple was still glistening with fresh blood, and that was probably why he was here. To get a band-aid or something. And a few painkillers.

From inside the airship the cannons weren’t nearly as deafening once in the airship. She sighed softly and wondered how many were simply dying on the floor around her, it was hard to tell and she knew she shouldn’t think like that. It was hard to believe such an attack had happened out of nowhere like that. No time to prepare for anything, no time to scout or warn anyone. It simply happened and that struck a nerve within her, a silent sort of anger washed over her. Mindless demons ravishing every planet they came to, it was obvious that these thing served no purpose and honestly needed to be obliterated.

Her head hit the wall behind her and she glanced up as The General spoke, still she said nothing and watched as he went upstairs. There was probably a great deal of work ahead of him at that point and she was useless. Not that she could have helped him anyway, she was nothing more than a native scout. She sighed to herself and stayed where she was, as they came about to collect the injured she waved them on to the more seriously wounded. It gave her time to reflect on everything, there were mistakes she had made. If she was this injured than she needed to work harder on the skill set she had, she was suppose to be more keen than this and not allow anything close enough to harm her. If it could harm her then she was suppose to kill it before it touched her.

Apparently that hadn’t worked out well for her, she looked down at her injuries and rubbed the bridge of her nose. It seemed she’d be training in her off time from now on; there could be no further mistakes. The General wasn’t going to be there next time to save her ass; this was more or less a guarantee. Of course it was probably a little shameful to be carried out by such a legend…hopefully that was too much of a blur for anyone to remember and hopefully he wouldn’t mention it to her.

_Damn…damn…damn._

The attack hadn’t gone the way she had hoped but in the very least the airship had thinned out the fearlings quite a bit but still not enough it seemed. She glanced up at them as they finally took her to a bed near the entrance and tended to her and gave her blood. Seems she had lot quite a bit of it, the adrenalin was the only thing that had kept her from collapsing all together through it. She swore quietly to herself and simply sat there and stared at the wall in front of her, planning out her free time and how she was going to improve herself. She was going to have to do so much better than this if she was doing scouting missions for General Pitchiner and she was certainly going to have to discipline herself more.

Whatever emotions she might have about him or for him…would have to be stuffed down further. She could have gotten them both killed even though she wasn’t even sure why he saved her. It was the strong who survived not the stupid and she apparently had been…very stupid. She sighed and leaned against the wall and glanced toward the drip above her head, it was only half way done, and all she really wanted to do was get up and attend to whatever business she might have.

In the mists of her thoughts she caught a flash of armor and gave a side-glance toward it, keeping her face to the wall still. It was General Pitchiner and he looked extremely exhausted and there was a flash of guilt that hit her. Perhaps she shouldn’t think about the mistakes she had made, after all she wasn’t as seasoned in war. But mistakes cost lives and no matter what the reasoning behind them, they were never good enough to shrug off. You couldn’t apologize to the dead and if she had gotten him killed or something worse…she didn’t even want to think about it.

Her eyes turned away and she looked at the foot of her bed instead and wished more than anything that the drip feed would hurry up, she was sure she could find something to do to be useful…then again sleep could probably be a better option just as long as she didn’t have to face Kozmotis and deal with the fact that he had literally drug her off an active battlefield.

_“What can I do to possibly make up for this?”_

She needed to keep her mind off of this somehow, especially with him so close to her. Without thinking she started to disarm herself of all the damn blades she carried on her person. She laid them all in front of her and began to carefully clean them with a cloth. She’d have to wait till she got to her bunk to properly clean them but for now she could get whatever filth the fearlings had left on them off. For now, it was something to do and was better than staring in front of her like a zombie.

Maybe he had not noticed her at all - his left eye, the one covered in blood, was partially blind because of the dried blood, but that was nothing a shower and a bit of soap couldn’t fix, and the other eye was scanning the room wearily. At least there were no screams of people dying… not anymore. They had either died at this point, or they had made it. The distant thunder of the ship cannons could still be heard now and then, the ship’s hull vibrating under the explosion, but apart from that and a few peacefully snoring soldiers in the rear, it was almost silent.

There was a bit of chatter between the nurse and the general, and even though he was tired and had one mother of a headache, he could still chuckle at something the young nurse had said. She took care of the laceration on his temple, cleaning it and then sewing it shut while the general himself obviously had a hard time not falling asleep.

“Painkillers?”, the nurse asked as she went back to her desk, to throw away all the bloody swabs she had used.

“Can I down them with whiskey?”, he asked, his voice somewhere between serious, amused and dead tired.

“If you want the commander to be in charge for the next three days because you’ll be either passed out or very close to passing out… well, yes.”

It made him chuckle again, because it had obviously been a joke - someone like him would never so much as touch a drop of alcohol in such a situation… mainly because he needed a clear head and good reflexes. His eyes scanned the room again, and now that they had gotten used to the rather dim light (aside from the nurse’s lamp she had used to actually see what part of him she was stitching together) they rested on Aurora for a moment. Well, she lived. A lot of others weren’t as lucky.

“How do you feel?”, he asked in her direction, a bit louder than before so she would catch his words. But even if he had whispered… she would have probably heard him, he mused.

The fact she could still the slight vibration from the cannons told her that the fight was still going on, was this an attack or had this turned in something much more? Where had they all come from suddenly, was the mass of fearlings already upon them and how many more waves would there be? As soon as she was healed would they be heading back to the battlefield?

She thought over these questions as General Pitchiner and the nurse spoke. It wasn’t hard to hear them, not when it was more or less silent around them. It was a little difficult for her not to make a sound of amusement at the idea of General Pitchiner drinking; much less drunk. Did he even drink at all and what kind of drunk would he be? Those were certainly amusing thoughts but they were quickly dismissed as she continued with her task without looking up, chewing on her inner cheek nervously.

The knives and daggers were scattered in front of her as she tried to get the filth off. Whatever it was that kept those demons alive, had caked itself to her blades and she had to slowly work the cloth over each one to get it off. This would probably pay off in the long run because it seemed if they weren’t prepped, it would be a waste of chemical fluid. That was only a slight annoyance but then again she had never seen such a fight where she had to use nearly every one of her weapons.

 

For a moment more silence had fallen upon them and she held onto it, hoping more than anything to avoid her failings. But his voice cut through the air and for a split second she thought her heart had either stopped or skipped a beat. Of course his musings were correct, she would have heard him, he could have chosen to speak below a whisper and she still would have heard him. She glanced up to acknowledge him as she continued working the cloth over the weapons in front of her. Even though she was extremely tired, she kept her demeanor professional.

“Sore but I’ll recover soon enough, how are you Sir?”

A soft sigh escaped her lips because she had finally gotten to take in just what his injuries were, didn’t seem too bad but she had wondered how he had got them. Was he attacked on his way to her or had something got him as he drug her onto the airship. Everything was such a blur and just thinking about the battle made her body ache all the more. It wasn’t even over yet but at least it would give her more chances to improve her skill.

“Better than I look, obviously.”

He was not here by choice, that much should be clear by now. The others had probably dragged him here at some point, but after most of the troops had been saved, he could at least show a rather grim sense of humor again. He even smirked which made him look like a complete psychopath with all the blood on his face. Without the blood, it would have looked charming, most likely.

But as much as he would have enjoyed a little bit of chit-chat, there was something else. Something that made him get up from the chair he was seated in, grimacing slightly as the movement made his head throb even more. Oh, he still looked in at least an acceptable mood, he didn’t look as stern as he usually did… but his words were far from friendly as he walked over to her.

“If I see you run off like that ever again,” he began, stopping next to her bed, gaze on her. “You will bear the consequences. I don’t care if you’re a civilian or not. I don’t care who or what you are… but you will _not_ run off like that again. I don’t need a maverick among my men who does as she pleases. If you had worked together with the archers or the sharpshooters, you might have saved a lot more men out there. I saw you fight - you are _good_. But that does not entitle you to do whatever you want. You will either understand that me and my men do not give orders to be pesky assholes, but rather to save lives and be efficient, or you will leave this ship. Is that clear, Miss Aurora?”

He didn’t sound angry, simply because he wasn’t, but rather calm and serious. It was something he had to say, and he managed to sound like the kind of teacher you weren’t afraid of because he was so mean and always yelled at you, no… he was the kind of teacher you never ever wanted to disappoint with your actions, because that would have been even worse. Not for him, but for you, because you didn’t want to disappoint. The most effective teacher, some might say. And he was good at playing that role.

She glanced up and arched a brow, his smirk was quite unnerving but honestly it had to do with the fact he looked like he had just cut down several poor souls. The thought of him losing his mind in such a way was something nightmares were made of. Though she knew something worse than him losing his mind was about to happen when he started moving toward her, it almost made her cringe because she knew what was coming. She had secretly and naïvely hoped that he’d ignore it and move on, even if she knew that he wouldn’t.

“I understand Sir.”

The very moment she had been dreading was unfolding before her. She certainly hadn’t thought it through and she had no problem admitting that. However it was somehow worse with him making her face it, if another General had said something or even one of the other soldiers. It probably wouldn’t have hurt nearly as much; she would have cringed and went on. After all, learning from mistakes was simply in every facet of life. In matters of war though, screw-ups could prove to be more costly. She had known she had made a mistake, several of them when he was dragging her off the battlefield. That was nearly punishment enough in itself but this was still worse because he had to say it, the tone of his voice was a slap to the face.

Aurora didn’t even pick his words a part, didn’t allow herself to even hear the fact he said she was good because clearly she wasn’t good enough. If there had been _any_ good in her at all, this situation wouldn’t be happening. She would have done better than this, would have made better choices and wouldn’t have ended up like _this_. In her mind there was _nothing_ good about this or about what she had done. It meant she would have to work harder, pay a great deal more attention, and train more. This could not happen again and she knew it, she had known hours before he even spoke her that this could never happen again. She was fresh in the army but she wasn’t stupid, she could learn from her mistakes but more importantly she was willing to learn from them.

The moment was over, short and unpleasant because she had disappointed him and she couldn’t afford to do that again. Not that she had ever meant to disappoint anyone, there was an attack and all she could think to do was respond. Fresh and naïve thinking but she could be grateful it was a mistake she had lived through. Given the nature of the attack, she could have easily fallen and there would have been no one to save her, and no one to blame but herself. The fact she was sitting here was probably miracle enough and the fact he wasn’t throwing her head long off the ship was probably another thing to be thankful for. The choices she had made would haunt her for days to come and the only thing she’d be able to do would be to bury herself in whatever orders came her way and train when there was time. For the rest of this battle, there would be no down time and no time to relax.

Her fingers were still wrapped around the hilt of her blade, still in the mists of cleaning it but she had obviously stopped every movement when he began to speak. The moment was almost enough to tear down that rigid demeanor she held around him, almost. The only sign that it had gotten through was in the slight tremble in her fingers. Somewhere in her mind she was convinced it was unprofessional to show emotion, perhaps it was even a weakness to allow any emotion through at all.

He watched her for a few moments, his expression as unreadable as his body language, mainly because he barely moved at all. He did not smile, nor did he frown - it must have felt as if he was waiting for her to show more reaction, or at least something more than… well, more than trying to act professional when she was clearly conflicted. He could have been blind and deaf and he would still have noticed it. It was about the little things, about how she had stopped cleaning her blade instead of carefully putting it down. He could be damn sure his words got though to her… and he could also be damn sure she took it harder than she was supposed to.

“Don’t try to act like a soldier,” he added in the most neutral tone possible. It was not meant to be an insult but neither was it meant to be praise or even encouragement to act like a fishwife from now on. “The worst thing you can do is just plainly swallow _everything_ you have on your mind. I don’t know if you’ve been in a battle of this magnitude before, but judging by the way your planet looks, I’d say no. Almost all rookies are sent to the shrink after their first battle, because they would go mad at some point if they had no chance to talk. And _they_ have been trained for battles like this. You, on the other hand, have most likely been trained to protect your villages.”

Gradually, he turned away from her. “I realize I’m not the kind of person you want to talk about how you feel - but that’s what the nurses and other members of the medical corps are here for. If you don’t want to talk to me, talk to one of them.”

And the answer, he figured, would probably be: Yes, Sir.

Aurora sat there for a moment and said nothing at all, she knew she wasn’t seasoned and was probably processing all of this differently than most might. She took every mistake hard on the battlefield because mistakes caused lives. There was no making up for them if they caused people their lives. If she didn’t improve herself, listen more, pay better attention, then she was useless to everyone around her. Including General Pitchiner, she was trained like an assassin and should know better than to make stupid mistakes like the ones she made today. These attacks were only going to get worse and there was improving over time, it was improving with every opportunity, and she knew this.

 

She looked up at him as he spoke, she really didn’t know how to handle this, and she honestly didn’t know how to talk to someone like him. A legend and someone who was vastly more intelligent than most others, she felt like her problems were of no interest to him really, and were small compared to the ones he had. Of course, she couldn’t see herself talking to any of the nurses or the medical corps because they also had more serious problems to deal with. She was just going to have to figure out a way to cope better and make this work. If she was weak for any stretch of time, then she was no good to him or anyone else on the battlefield.

 

She sighed softly and dropped the knife on the bed, looking at the cloth with the filth on it. Fearlings…she hadn’t had a clue what they were until a few years ago, something that ruined lives, planets, and everything they touched. Honestly, they were like a cancer and it seemed no matter how much treatment these cancers went under, it seemed they wouldn’t go away. She leaned against the wall and watched him turn away and for whatever reason, the stiff and professional demeanor dropped…even if it might only be for a moment.

 

“Thank you General Pitchiner but I don’t know what I would tell anyone. This is war, you either find a way to cope or you die. You either learn quickly from your mistakes or you die, or you cost others their lives. You evolve or you do not survive, whatever hell this is we’ve found ourselves in.”

Well, a ‘yes sir’ would have been better than this. He stopped in his tracks, pressed his lips together in thought for a moment and turned around again just to sit next to her on the bed, mumbling a short “May I?” as he sat down. She could surely feel half of the thin mattress shift with his weight, because 6’2” of athletic human plus a full set of plate armor weren’t exactly lightweight.

“This is exactly what I am talking about.”, he said as he leaned slightly forward to rest his elbows on his knees, folding his hands into one another. “Of course you need to find a way to cope - but not all by yourself. I have seen the strongest of soldiers crumble and go mad because they had just kept everything to themself. This is _war_ , Aurora. This is not the time for loners. And if you don’t want to talk to me or anyone around here, I suggest you talk to one of your friends at home.”

His voice was still stern, but at the same time softer than it used to be. He was no shrink, of course, but he knew what one’s own mind was capable of. The body would heal if wounds were tended to, and it was the same with the mind. If left unattended, scars on the conscious mind would fester and become almost poisonous, poisoning every rational thought.

Perhaps if she had more energy in her, she might have been stunned and scooted as far from him as possible. At the moment though, her only concern was whether or not her collection of daggers would end up sliding toward him. She scooted back a bit to lean against the wall and give him a bit more room. She couldn’t imagine that he really wanted to be that close to her, after all she had made terrible mistakes today, and apparently had not given him the answer he wanted to hear. Perhaps she shouldn’t have said anything at all, other than _yes sir._ If she kept this up, kept making mistakes, and saying stupid things, he’d throw her out in no time.

 

She chewed on her inner cheek; she hadn’t ever been good with talking to others about her problems. It was always the other way around, they would come to her; she would listen, and give advice if she could. Of course, even if she was the talking sort, all of her friends that she knew of, had either died, or had evacuated the planet. Not that she was forgetting her unit but she hadn’t ever considered talking to them on any sort of personal level. What he was proposing, was a bit strange to her, stranger still because he was the one giving her _this_ kind of advice. Nothing she heard about him had ever pointed to any sort of softness, always stoic, and a hard ass. Everything about this entire moment was throwing her off and it perplexed her. What was she was suppose to say to any of this and further more, what was she suppose to say to him?

 

It would have almost been easier to say, “ _Thank you sir, I’ll keep that in mind.”_ However she kept her mouth shut and glanced up at him, she suppose that she was suppose to say something along the lines of what was bothering her but it seemed stupid. It felt like everything she might possibly say to him, would sound stupid and naïve. Her problems were nothing compared to the ones he had. She honestly felt like she had no right to complain about anything or complain to him about anything. Not that she had a complaint about anything, as far as this sort of life went, it could be worse. It was her mistakes she had made that were eating her up and perhaps she didn’t know how to deal with the hurt of that.

 

Mistakes during a war, were costly to everyone, they could cause death, harm, and all sorts of other problems. Every mistake during battle usually ended up causing lives or getting someone hurt. She had probably gotten him hurt, and who knew how many lives she had ended by simply not finding a division to work with. She had done so much more damage than good and she simply couldn’t forgive herself for that.

 

“I’ll just have to do better to atone for the sins I’ve committed. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say to anyone really. I screwed up… _very_ badly and I can’t apologize to the dead…I should have known better.”

 

Considering though, she had been trained like an assassin more than anything else, maybe it wasn’t so hard to believe she hadn’t waited for orders or even thought to assist another unit. Looking back though, it was obvious she should have and she simply couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt. The bottle line to all her problems at this moment was guilt.

His first reaction was a deep, deep breath he took. ‘Sins’. Great. She’d probably take her own life if she kept telling herself this bullshit, and he obviously made it worse. It was such a fucked up situation that he almost had to laugh whilst shaking his head, but he bit his tongue instead, resisting the urge. The girl would have just taken it as an insult, of course. She would have thought he was laughing at her, not at the situation in general, and he couldn’t really blame her.

“If you had purposely killed ten of my men to provide a distraction for the Fearlings, I would agree to the whole ‘sin’ bullshit… but you didn’t. So _please_ stop thinking like that, Miss Aurora.”

That was probably the most humane thing he had said ever since the army had set foot on the planet. It sounded so very, very normal, like he was about to simply shrug off his duties and grab a beer with a few friends instead of commanding an army.

“But that’s not what you did. Look.” He shifted his weight, turned slightly towards her and couldn’t care less if the blades slid towards him. They would stop at his thigh anyway. “I have no idea who you are. I know your name, and I can’t even tell if it is your first or last name, or if all the people on your planet just go by one name. And you have no idea who I am.”

As paradox as it might have sounded, because she was surely tempted to say things like: ‘But _everyone_ knows who you are, Sir!’, he had his reasons to say something like this. If she wanted to intervene at this moment, he would simply hold up a finger, cutting her short.

“You know my name, you know my rank, you may have heard of a few battles others would call ‘heroic’. But there’s no such thing as heroism in war, believe me. You see me as some kind of hero, maybe even as a savior, and you probably think me flawless and perfect. But that’s so very far from the truth, Miss Aurora. In the end, when it comes down to it, I’m just a father trying to make the Cosmos a better place for his daughter to grow up in. There are very few people who know me for who and what I really am - but that’s the way it has to be. The chain of command wouldn’t work any other way.”

Carefully, he picked up one of the blades with his fingers, with the hand that was no longer armored because one of the two plate gloves hung at his waist. He turned it between his fingers, looking at it from every angle. He had, of course, seen similar blades, sometimes stuck somewhere in his armor or even flesh, because not all Fearlings were claws and teeth only. But every weapon had its own story.

“Now, Miss Aurora - would you like to try and talk to me again without all the guilt pangs and blaming yourself?”

udging by his first reaction, she had probably chosen her words poorly yet again. It was really starting to appear that she couldn’t find the right response for him. Everything she seemed to say, made him cringe, and that honestly was not her intent. Maybe her choice of words seemed a bit harsh but there had never been a time where she had wanted to take her own life and she sure as hell wasn’t going to start now. Of course she felt terribly guilty for the mistakes and sins she had committed today…should have thought things through but other instincts took over, she knew that she had to pick up on things quicker. There was a vast difference on how he worked and how her unit worked and she hadn’t even thought about that. Wasn’t even given the chance to really look into it since the attack literally happened moments before she was about to get her orders.  

“My last name is Nightrose…but we aren’t accustomed to really using them much here.”  

Her words were more or less tossed out in the open after his remark but she didn’t interrupt him again after that. She wouldn’t have and wouldn’t have even made the statement he thought she might. Perhaps she was star struck with him but she had never assumed to know much, the only thing she had known about him were the stories of his battles, and everything he had given to win. There wasn’t much else said about him outside of war, his personal life wasn’t ever brought up, and this was the first she was hearing of a daughter. Not that it mattered, he may not be perfect but he was certainly doing something right to end up with the kind of reputation he had.  

The sentiment wasn’t of his actions wasn’t lost on her in the very least, she was taken back by it though. She hadn’t heard anything about his softer side or that he had one, it was a surprise that he was even showing it at all. She looked up to him and watched him as he spoke, under that layer of armor was a human who cared in his own way and did the best he could to save the world from monsters so his daughter could have a world free from fear. He had his reasons for being who he was and doing everything in his power to keep pushing forward…it also seemed he did everything he could to make sure everyone under his command found a way to keep pushing forward too and she guessed that somehow included her.  

Without much movement, she leaned forward and took the blades that had slid to his thigh and put them all on the table beside her. There were still many that needed to be cleaned, so she took one and began to gently rub away the filth the fearlings had left behind. There would be no use trying to scrub it away, it wouldn’t do any good, and besides she wasn’t sure she had the strength to scrub it anyway. The blood loss still left her weak and she honestly didn’t want to end up cutting herself.  

“I’m not sure what you would have me say but…I will share with you what I can.” 

She looked up at him as she cleaned it, watching him handle one of her own blades, a cleaner one but it ould need chemical treatment later. 

“Before any of this even took place, we had no military force, it wasn’t needed. We had a police force, sure but nothing like this. We are so far removed from the trading routes that we hardly see visitors who aren’t here to see family. We had no need for a military base, nothing ever happened that required it, and it wasn’t until I was 18 that we started hearing about fearlings, dream pirates, nightmare men, and so forth.  We had to outsource to other planets to bring in everything. Generals, Captains, and everyone so they could train us how to maintain bases and ships. We trained for four years, which is an expensive amount to train compared to what most others go through in boot camp. But we had to start from the ground up, everyone had to be trained, every person in the chain of command had to under go intense training to be up to par.”  

She paused for a moment and thought back to those years training, it was about then that they started getting small attacks, just little groups, and of course they had been a bit overwhelmed at the time. If only they had known had much worse it was going to get then…maybe they would have tried to prepare them all more.  

“It was about my second year, I found I had a knack for hand-to-hand combat, sword play, and of course close range attacks. They started to form specialty units for different the skill sets. Archery, snipers, scouts, and all of that…my unit was a bit different from the rest. We were trained with the assassins and made to learn their skill sets as well as sharpen our natural gifts.” 

Training with that group had probably been the very hardest thing she had ever done in her years of training. Worse than 63 hour drills, worse than 5 mile runs without stopping, and worse than fighting a fearling with no weapon. The assassins unit was a black ops of sorts, they were forced to under go harsher conditions, and they had to assess the situation of every moment. Observing the bigger picture and the small details at once, she was really surprised she made it at all.  

“Their motto was drilled into our heads, ‘ _Rely on no one, while everyone relies on you. Every choice counts and every mistake will cost someone their life._ ’ We weren’t ever given missions…so much as situations to resolve quickly and quietly.” 

Aurora didn’t know if that’s what he wanted to hear or not but she told him anyway, it was something other than the guilt she felt. It was a map of how she got to where she was and who she was now.

It was at least _something_ , and it didn’t matter if it was exactly what he wanted to hear or not. It was better than just ‘my sins’ or a simple ‘yes sir’, but it told him that she had a long way to go to even fit into the army. It would be harder than molding a freshly trained recruit, simply because she had already been molded into something else, and for a second he even considered telling her that the army was no place for someone of her skill set.

“I see.”, he said, nodding slowly at her words. “You’re an assassin, not a soldier. And while your skills are impressive indeed, we have no need for assassins in the army.”

He watched her, studying her reaction to what he had just said closely. There would surely be disappointment to the point of plain sobering. it would have been the most natural reaction, and one he actually wanted to see. Everything else would just mean that she was hiding her emotions again, and that would eventually turn her into a time bomb.

“We _do_ need people with your skills, though.”, he continued, the corner of his mouth twitching into a smirk. Of course it had been mean to not continue with this right away, but there was almost always a point to his actions, to his decisions. “You just need to get your mind off of the whole ‘lone wolf’ bullshit. And you won’t be killing anyone by backstabbing them if you decide to stay with us. Well, except a few Dream Pirates and Fearlings maybe, but only in an open battle. You’d be assigned to the scouts if you want to stay with us, and there _are_ a few rules you _will_ have to follow. Still, it’s your decision.”

Aurora wasn’t that surprised when he told her that, why they had given them those skills was something she questioned to this day.  Maybe she should have questioned it more than but at the time they were so focused on getting ready for the oncoming attacks that were sure to come, they had so much to do and so little time to do it in. No one had ever asked why…but perhaps they were just giving them all the divisions at once instead of having to train them later.  It was hard to tell what they were after at that time but it didn’t matter now, she had the skills, and the only thing she could do now was push forward.

 

There was a twist of anxiety though; that he would tell her to return to her unit, and that would have shamed the unit on a level she didn’t want to think about. Despite having some fear of being forced out of the army, she prepared herself to take whatever news he gave her. After all, there was nothing she could do about it either way, she would either fight with General Pitchiner or she would fight with her unit. No matter what she had to defend her home world, that’s what all of this was about in the very end wasn’t it? Defeating the enemy? But part of her was very much longing to have the chance to serve under him, which was an honor in itself, and a chance so few were ever given. Even if he didn’t see himself as a hero or even a legend, his ability to command and hold his unit together was uncanny.

 

“You have my word that I will follow whatever orders are given to me.”

 

Through previous mistakes and oversights she hade made recently, her eyes were a bit more open, and she could only assume that the reason he chose to hold off the last part was to see how well she might handle the news. She wouldn’t have enjoyed being told to leave The Golden Army but it wouldn’t have destroyed her world, it would have been a complicated set back though. She arched a brow and smiled just a bit, there was a bit of a strange tease in him, and that was pretty damn amusing.

 

“I accept that you work differently than what I’m use to but I’m more than willing to do what I must to suit whatever needs there are.”

 

True she was use to working alone and making sure everyone around her was safe, that would be hard but she wasn’t stuck in her ways. They were taught to assess and adapt to every situation and this wasn’t any different was it?  It would be an interesting change and one she was more than willing to see through. Nothing had the ability to keep the same form for eternity and the quicker someone accepted that, the better off they were in the long run.

Well, that was at least not another ‘Yes Sir’, a phrase which he was so very used to hearing, and which had, for some reason, begun to annoy him when she used it. It was probably because she had hid behind it, because she had thought it was what he wanted to hear. That might not have been a downright lie, but it came very close.

With a nod, he stood carefully as to not throw her off balance because the combined weight of his body and his armor were so suddenly gone from the bed. “As long as you do not keep everything bottled up inside, we’re good. But if you decide to keep everything to yourself, there will be no way I can drag your ass off of the battlefield again one day, because the Fearlings will use it against you. They _will_ turn you.” He picked up his glove, turning away from the bed. It was still quiet in the med bay, and he made sure to keep his own voice down.

“Get some rest, don’t get distracted by the cannons going off now and then. The nurses are there if you need anything. I’ll see you tomorrow, Aurora.” It was the first time he had not used a ‘Miss’ in front of the name she used, but it was impossible to tell if it had been on purpose or if he was simply too tired to care - the latter was more likely, because he looked like he would just drop dead from tiredness any second now. With a mumbled farewell to the nurse near the door, he finally left, closing the door behind him.

Aurora simply nodded to him as he gently slid out of bed, she didn’t say anything because she didn’t want to risk having him get annoyed at her again. It seemed she had a knack for saying things that made him cringe and that was a habit that needed to be broken. She didn’t want him to glance over at her and brace himself for whatever might come out of her mouth. That wasn’t the sort of impression she wanted to leave him with but a lot of what she said was the training she had been given in the last several years but hopefully he knew that now.

 

It was indeed time for a change of scenery and by scenery she meant leadership. It was going to be…interesting. The way he worked was probably a lot more traditional than the training and leadership she had been under, it was going to be a strange switch, and she didn’t even know the rules of the game yet. That something he hadn’t delved into but she was sure when they had both gotten more rest, he would give her all she needed to know. He would have give her a quick run through so she could avoid disappointing him again and possibly save more lives than last time. Maybe it hadn’t been such a disaster to Kozmotis but to Aurora, it was one of the worst screw-ups she had made…even if she hadn’t known how to operate under his command.

 

Not that it mattered now, it was too late to change anything, and all she could do now was pick up on his workflow as quickly as possible. She glanced up at the IV and it was almost done, thank god for that. She was getting tired of sitting in this bed and knew she still had to finish cleaning up her blades before she even thought about sleep. At least he hadn’t lost too much blood, though it was almost worth it to see Kozmotis working his scythe. She mused quietly to herself and chuckled as she gathered up her blades and waited for the nurse to clean her up. When she came though, she told Aurora she needed to lie there for 30 minutes to make sure she was steady on her feet. That was kind of annoying but she did as she was told but while she waited, she finished cleaning up her blades so all she had to do when she got to her bunk was the chemical cleaning.

 

The 30 minutes passed by quickly enough before she was released and she wondered toward where she would be sleeping. Toward the back was her bunk or more to the point, it was a hammock with a pole to hang her stuff off of. She took off her shirt and pants, she needed out of her clothing so she could let her wounds and bandages breath a bit. Of course, she still had a nightshirt on and shorts…but her uniform was making the cloth dressings press a bit too snugly to her skin. She slid into her bunk and quietly finished the cleaning of her blades, listening to the canons going off in the distance. There was a quiet vibration but nothing more than that.

 

Once she was done she put everything away and it didn’t take too long for her to drift asleep. All though her dreams quickly faded into nightmares and she tossed and turned a bit, squirming a bit as the darkness took her over…

 

_The room she was standing in was dim and she could see along the walls, the shadows that seemed to be writhing. The shadows were slowly coming to life, turning into fearlings, and they surrounded her. It was hard to breath, she felt her heart in her throat and she wondered how she got there. They were swarming her and she could hear them, they were moving closer and she tried to step back but it was no use. No use because they were rushing her and they were…passing her? She glanced behind her; there was someone else they were interested in…and she tried to scream but nothing came out as he was swallowed up, an inhuman and ear-splitting shriek came from the poor soul. She tried to cover her ears but it did not help, the murderous shriek grew in pitch before it slowly turned into a monstrous laugh and it made her skin crawl. She was shaking and she almost couldn’t hold herself together._

_She almost couldn’t move but she forced herself to face the horror that was in front of her and she screamed at the sight before her. Two piercing molten eyes stared down at her and a despair she had never known began to fill her. Another scream escaped her lips but suddenly she stopped and looked down, something had pierced through her chest and stomach…she wasn’t bleeding red but black. It was pouring out of the wounds and she was trying to stop it as it spread out like a poison across her skin. The shadows began to roll toward her like waves of an angry ocean and she choked on her screams…_

She woke with a bit of a start, and she was breathing a bit hard as she tried to focus on reality. Her cheeks were wet but she couldn’t move to wipe them, the chemical of sleep was still in her veins, she was annoyed with the fact she was now experiencing sleep paralysis after a nightmare. There was nothing she could do until the chemical left her body and she was awake more. Though there was a sound that was distracting her from her current annoyance. It sounded like soft steps but she couldn’t turn her head to see what it was.

 

“Are you alright lass, you were making an awful racket.”

 

“Night…nightmare.” She muttered a bit, not quite able to work her mouth yet.

 

“What were you dreaming love?”

 

“Fearlings…con-consuming everything.” She figured it was the nurse who was talking to her…she was now trying to fight to wake up more fully.

 

“Common dream among the solders, nothing to worry about dear.”

 

“Not…not me…someone…someone else was…consumed.” She hissed a bit, the dream was still fresh in her mind.

 

“Who?”

 

Aurora shook her head and suddenly snapped awake and sat up a bit and gasped for breath…she waited for a moment and wondered momentarily if the conversation with the nurse had been a dream too. She reached over and grabbed her watch, it wasn’t 8 am yet, and she chuckled bitterly as she rubbed her face. It wasn’t time to wake up yet, but it was close enough she figured. She sighed and laid there for a few minutes, that was the first nightmare she had, had in several months.

 

_“Damn.”_

Everyone had nightmares once in a while, and the nurse along with the rest of the medical team would simply dismiss it. Even if she had told them whom she had dreamed about, it was, after all, just a ‘dream’. Her wounds had most likely not been infected and there were no Fearlings aboard that could have given her the worse kind of nightmare, one that would make her doubt reality itself. The nurse would have come back to check on her a few times in the early morning hours, but apart from that, she was being left alone.  
  
An almost uneasy silence had fallen over the ship and its crew, the hallways inside the massive aircraft were illuminated by simple, electric lights because there was not enough light from outside in the twilight the planet was covered in. Here and there, soldiers were jokingly complaining about how the sun never shone and how it was kind of depressing to be here, but there was a grain of truth to those complaints. Fighting shades in twilight was never good or comforting. At least the cannons had stopped firing, and if young Aurora took a look out of the massive windows or even stepped on deck, she would see the remains of the distant base camp they had established, nothing more than a few burnt down tents that looked like skeletons in the distance and many, many craters from where the shells had hit the ground. It looked like a mine field someone had decided to dance on.  
  
On the other side of the ship, the small village had basically been razed to the ground. A few, still smoking ruins stood among rubble and charred ground - but even so, there were quite a few civilians on deck, being served hot coffee in aluminium cups along with slices of bread or buns here and there. They had been given blankets and some of them were of course crying and complaining while others seemed utterly glad to have made it to the airship. A few faces might seem familiar to Aurora (that’s basically her mun’s decision), but all of them were busy either being happy they were still alive or mourn their losses. Nobody really paid attention to anything else save themselves right now.  
  
The general, on the other hand, could be found in the mess that was mostly empty except for the single table he had occupied, along with two of the younger soldiers, maybe 18, 19 years old, not older. One of them had his arm in a cast while the other one had a bandage around his head, and the blonde listened patiently to their stories. Of course they thought themselves heroes because they had probably killed one or two Fearlings, but that was how every career started. And Kozmotis was certainly not one to dismiss their stories as ridiculous, because he could very well remember that he had almost dropped his own sword after he had killed his first Fearling. It felt like that had been ages ago, but it was one of the most prominent memories in his mind.  
  
There were still two unoccupied chairs at the same table, and as soon as the general caught sight of Aurora, he gestured for her to sit down after she had gotten whatever she fancied for breakfast. Both of the rookies turned around to shoot a glance towards the woman as he gestured, but quickly continued with their stories. And all the while, the blonde listened and took sips of his own coffee from the same kind of aluminium cup they were handing to the survivors on deck.

Once the remnants of sleep slipped from her veins, she pulled herself out her hammock; she really needed to shower before she did anything else. The warmth would help chase away the rest of the nightmare, it was already starting to fade from her memory but a piece of it would always stay locked away in the back her mind. She rubbed her face and gathered her things and headed to the co-ed showers. For the most part, the new recruits were too worn torn to be modest in front of others, while the rest of them were either use to it or simply didn’t care.

 

Aurora had never been one to really care; she walked in and glanced around, and nearly cringed a bit. It looked like most of them had taken a beating of sorts and she hadn’t faired too much better than the rest of them. She removed the dressings off her wounds and cleaned them up, as well the rest of her. The warm water was like standing under some deity while they let blessed prayers bubble forth from their lips. At this moment, she felt like she was in a temple, being healed by the warmth of the unseen. She sighed blissfully and closed her eyes, at least for a few moments she could lose herself in the pleasure of some mundane task.  

 

Though the dreaming had to end, sooner than she really wanted it to but there was a war to be won. She gathered herself up and took herself to the nurse’s station and allowed them to clean and dress her wounds once again. It was while she was here that she noticed that there were a lot of civilians wondering through and she arched a brow…she hadn’t realized the camp was so close to one of the towns. This didn’t set well with her, not when the surrounding villages had been asked to evacuate. Part of her understood they didn’t want to leave their homes but on the other hand, this was a fight they were not prepared for. No normal civilian could deal with fearlings; even just a few of them could overwhelm someone untrained for those kinds of attacks…even rookies had trouble still. Not to mention seasoned fighters had to steal themselves in face of their threat.

 

The nurses finished dressing her wounds and sent her on her way and she wondered through the deck, looking through the sea of faces, some where happy to be alive, others were mourning the less, and some were black, numb to what was happening around them. The pain clearly written in their empty stares as they tried to process what had taken place. There were indeed a few faces she recognized and she took a few moments to speak with them. Mostly checking in on them to make sure they had everything they needed and partly to find out why they hadn’t vacated when given the chance. It was never a clear answer and she sighed to herself, if they had only known had much worse it would probably get.

 

She made her way to the mess hall where she picked up coffee, eggs, bacon, sausage and toast. She’d make a sandwich out of it so she could eat it more quickly, there was no telling how much time she’d have to enjoy breakfast after speaking with some of the civilians on deck. With a quick glance around the hall, she noticed General Pitchiner waving her down and was a bit surprised by that, could he possibly be telling her to sit with him? It was hard to imagine why he’d want to spend anymore time with her unless he wanted to get straight to business and stir her onto the path that would best suit his needs.

Not that it mattered too much, she made her way to the table and sat across from The General and glanced to the young men who were speaking of the hell they had been through and the meager kills they had made. She almost smiled, she nearly 5 years older than them but she remembered her first fearling…and how it had taken a chunk out of her forearm. She had been about their age as well, she hoped that they would live to continue on and tell more tells about the war they had won.

 

Her eyes drifted up To Kozmotis and she nodded to him as she prepared her breakfast, so she could get through it and get to work. There was no telling how this day was going to go but she hoped that there would be some time for some training. In times of war downtime was rare and sometimes important but to her, downtime was training time.

 

“Good morning Sir.”

Still, this very moment in the mess, this simple table with the general holding a cup of coffee, with the two rookies who eyed Aurora like she was the most interesting person they had seen in the last few weeks (which was probably true) felt like the only place with a somewhat calm atmosphere that still remained. It felt… normal, like nothing bad was happening outside. It felt good, at least to the two rookies, one of them gesturing with a slice of some reddish fruit like it was a grenade.

“An’ I didn’t know what to do, so I threw the thing!”, he concluded his story, making Kozmotis smirk. Both of them were so very happy to be alive, quite clearly, and they felt like the greatest war heroes that had ever existed. And that was a good thing, because the ship and its crew certainly didn’t need any more depression right now. It was also one of the reasons the general took the time to listen to the two youngsters.

“Aurora.”, he finally greeted as the one with the slice of fruit had finished his story. “Good morning.” The two youngsters at the table introduced themselves, one of them even found it necessary to salute to her, and Kozmotis had to hide a grin behind his cup of coffee, taking another sip. Hawkins and Yamen were their names, both of them Privates, both of them not older than 20 years. And even though they had been bruised a little - bandages could be seen here and there under their clothes - they were still cheerful. One of them even offered his bowl of fruit slices to Aurora with a broad smile. They probably thought her to be a soldier as well.

“Man, what did you do?”, the other one, Hawkins, asked her, eyeing her up and down. “Looks like you took a lot of stick.”

Aurora gave ghost of a smile to him before looking to toward the privates, she could remember being that age, and how strangely exciting being in the army was at the time. How every battle was a morbid and beautiful horror, every moment after a near death experience sent a near hysterical joy through the body, and every lost life was like a knife in the side.  She was 19 when she joined the military and now she was 25, it was hard to believe that so much time had passed already.

 

She sipped her coffee and started on her sandwich, listening to them finish up their story. When they introduced themselves to her, she nodded to them and introduced herself. Though she nearly choked on her breakfast when one of the saluted her. That was definitely a first and she almost wanted to say, _don’t do that._ The surprise of the gesture kept her from saying anything perhaps The General would correct them soon. After all she wasn’t really a soldier but a scout and for all intensive purposes, an assassin.

 

They were certainly fresh if they thought it was needed to salute her.  She cleared her throat, finished eating, and sipped her coffee. That was kind of embarrassing to say the least but she wasn’t sure whom it was worse for. Quickly she brushed it off and glanced toward them once again, the light caught her eyes and revealed the Riddick Shine they had to them. The lights on this air ship was something she wasn’t quite use to as if yet, they were brighter than what the cities normally were.

 

A soft sigh escaped her lips when they asked about her own injuries; she wasn’t surprised as she took a piece of the fruit offered to her. It would have been easy to say, ‘ _a series of unfortunate mistakes._ ’ But she could already see her head connecting to the table because of a certain General not wishing to hear take yesterday so personally. She wasn’t really too sure how to answer that in a way that wouldn’t cause Kozmotis to cringe.

 

“My particular skill set requires me to get up close and personal with the enemy…it comes with it’s own set of draw backs.”

The two privates were probably going to salute everybody they met - at least they looked like it, and it was not the worst thing one could do on a military ship. After all, most of the soldiers present would outrank them, and greeting other privates of their own rank with a salute was nothing to be ashamed of either. However, the general’s eyes showed an amused glint as she almost choked, yet he kept quiet.

“You’re using blades instead of rifles and guns? Wow… they’d probably rip me apart within a second if I tried that.”, Hawkins said while giving the woman an almost amazed look.

“That is precisely why you’re not fighting with anything else but rifles for now.”, Kozmotis said as he put down his cup of coffee. “You’re simply not ready, and it would only cost you your life if you tried close quarters combat.” And he was probably right about it - a rookie did not really stand a chance against a Fearling if he was not properly trained, and in this case, ‘proper training’ was a matter of time, not of skill.

“Yes, Sir…”, the rookie muttered, taking another bite of one of the fruits, almost like a child that had just been scolded and was now embarassed, especially in front of someone like Aurora. She was far from ugly, most of the men on this ship would call her beautiful, and being scolded in front of a beautiful woman was something no young man would ever want to experience.

The other rookie finally broke the silence. “What’s our plan for today?”, he asked, eyes on the general.

“We have to wait until the engines are fixed. Some of the flyers also damaged the solar sails, and once those are patched up, we’re retreating. It’ll take the rest of the fleet at least a few more days until they get here, and we’re not going to be sitting ducks until then.”, the blonde replied with the same kind of calm he had shown in the war room yesterday. He didn’t add that he had no idea if they would survive the coming night or even what they called ‘day’ on this planet. Sun usually gave at least a little protection against the shadowy creatures, but here, it was always dark.

Aurora had more or less recovered from the shock of being saluted, she was more or less happy that she didn’t blush over it. It may not have been the worst thing one could do in the military but it still took her but surprise. It was not something she was use to, especially these days. Though the amusement in Kozmotis’ eyes didn’t escape her and she almost scowled at him. But chose to sip her coffee instead as glanced back between the two privates. They were incredibly young and still naïve about war and the true implications of it. In a way, she knew she was as well…of course anyone who stood next to Kozmotis probably felt small and childish. There was something about him that really set him apart from everyone else.

It wasn’t even the fact he was so well known, it was in his personality, the way he carried himself, and the intelligence he held. It probably made the ‘scolding’ even worse for the rookie but Aurora never took in the account he was probably embarrassed because she was there to see it. She wasn’t a vein sort of woman and wouldn’t have ever thought to use the world beautiful when describing herself. Several years in the military caused her not to think about those aspects, at least not when it came to her.  

“I’ve spent years training in this field and if you ever have the chance to get close to a fearling…I wouldn’t.”  

She sipped her coffee and glanced toward the general when he spoke, so there was nothing they could really do until everything was repaired. It was quite amazing the damage fearlings could do when there was such a large concentration of them. She had never seen such a wave of bleak destruction before and it was hard to believe that they made it all…especially when he had dragged her from the field. How had he even managed that? 

At any rate, it seemed as though there wasn’t really much of a plan for the day. Not that she probably could have done much, she was still recovering from yesterdays mistakes. Which meant there was downtime and she despised that more than anything. She couldn’t train nor could she go on a mission. The only thing that came to mind was sharpening her blades, perhaps that would be at least _one_ thing.

There was no sense worrying about it now, for the time being she could distract herself with the company of the three men at the table. She wasn’t sure how much of a conversationalist Kozmotis was but it was easy to see that the rookies would be more than willing to chat until something called them away.

With a gentle flick of her wrist, a blade slid out from under sleeve, in a non-threatening manner of course. She looked to Hawkins, hoping to get his mind off being embarrassed as she showed him one of the blades she was working with. It was a small silver blade made from impossibly strong metals, she had several different styles of blades on her person but the one under her sleeve was one of the smallest, and very much had a sharp point to it. It was meant for throwing more than anything but certainly could do the job in close quarters as well.  

“The first time I killed a fearling, it took a chunk out of my forearm. Fighting with blades isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Swords and scythes are normally more recommended than what I fight with.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I can't say this will ever be finished, but I'm always looking to write again with a General Kozmotis or a Pitch.


End file.
